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Summer is nearing an end, and back to school season is in full swing. As you shop for those notebooks, backpacks, pencils, and the like, be sure to keep in mind that we live in a digital world where students are expected to become comfortable with technology. Homework now involves the Internet and the usage of tablets and laptops to get the job done. When moving those items around, it’a always good to have a backup, even in the age of cloud storage. SanDisk is always up to the challenge, and I’ve relied on SanDisk digital storage for over a decade when it comes to photography, and external storage.

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We try and feature some lust-worthy gadgets in our 2012 Holiday Gift Guide, but we also like to call out great deals on things that you need for those gadgets as well, and that's why we are recommending the 32GB and 16GB Sony SDHC class 10 flash memory cards. Amazon currently has an amazing deal on these cards, sellign each at a substantial discount. The 32GB cards are 67% off, while the 16GB variety are 65% off. Of course, you can use these in anything from a digital camera, to the new Wii U, to simple file storage for your computer. Check them out on Amazon now!

eBay has our Deal of the Day today, as they're offering a full 50% off of Transcend 32 GB SDHC cards. This is the best price we've seen on cards with this much capacity, and they normally sell for $100. The deal today has them at $49, and that includes the price of shipping. Great buy for a digital camera. If you're interested, head on over:

Earlier tonight, the Apple Store went down, and we all figured it was just so that they could get the pre-order page for the iPhone 4 up and running—imagine our surprise when we saw a completely redesigned Mac mini waiting for us as well. The new Mac mini looks gorgeous, sporting a redesigned aluminum unibody enclosure. Even better, this is the first Mac that has an HDMI port built right in, which makes this perfect for hooking up to a television to turn into a media centric computer. Other niceties include an SD card reader on the back, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Mini DisplayPort, and the NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics chip, which Apple says provides twice the graphics performance as the previous mini. Rounding things out are a 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo chip, 2GB RAM, and a 320GB hard drive. The unibody enclosure was made in such a way that you could remove a panel on the bottom to easily get to the RAM—any owner of the previous Mac mini can attest to the horrific things you had to go through to upgrade the Mac mini RAM, so this is a welcome change.

The Snow Leopard Server model of the Mac mini remains as well, packing in two 500GB drives (and removing the SuperDrive,) alongside 4GB RAM and a 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor. You can order the new Mac Mini now for $699, while the server version sells for $999.

This 2-in-1 Card Reader Cable is an SD (HC) reader and a mini-USB (2.0) cable combined. Plug into a USB device to charge and at the same time transfer data to your PC. At a length of about 90cm, it is compatible with SDHC / SD / MMC II / RS MMC / Ultra II SD / Extreme SD / Extreme III SD / MiniSD / T-Flash / MicroSD / MicroSDHC, although when the reader is working, the transfer function will be disabled. The cord is compatible with Windows 2000/XP/Vista and Mac OS 9.0 or higher at a price of a mere $12.00.

We are not exactly sure why this device was designed the way it was, but perhaps its inventors were going for something that would fit right in with your messy household. It looks like a can, but is in fact a Card Reader and 3-port Hub Combo II. It supports SD, SDHC, MMC, XD, CF, and T-flash/MicroSD. It will also transfer files to your PC by USB 2.0. At a size of 58 x 58 x 88mm and a weight of 101g, the plug-and-play reader/hub needs Windows 2000/XP/Vista to run, comes with a USB cable, and has a price of $20.00. Just don’t mistake it for a Coke while it is plugged in.

For the ultimate in convergence check out Pioneer‘s latest in-dash GPS stereo unit. Like some other units the GPS the high-resolution 5.8” screen can pop out to provide GPS and tunes on the go, but unlike the competition this new head unit keeps drivers safe with voice activated navigation and music controls. When the GPS unit is popped out you can take it on the go for directions either while walking, or when driving another car.

Outfitted with Voicebox technology the driver can give commands verbally like “Play Honeycut - Aluminum City” or “Navigate to the Space Needle in Seattle” so as to not have to take their hands or eyes off the road. The Bluetooth capabilities also allow for hands free calling to further enhance the drivers safety. Music in WMA or MP3 format can be played from SD cards, or streamed from Bluetooth phones. The AVIC f500bt also provides strong iPod integration allowing for playback and control of iPod stored music.

Available soon for a yet unknown price. For the inconvenience and high technology packed into this car entertainment don’t expect it to be cheap though.

So you’re about to go on vacation and you’re taking your trusty digital camera. You might want to pick up an iWay iPod SD Adapter as well. Why? Because the adapter allows you to transfer photos to your iPod straight from your SD card—no computer middle-man required! First, plug the iWay into your Video iPod, then attach your photo-laden SD card to the iWay. Those 83 shots you just took of the Maui sunset will now load onto your iPod, for better viewing and of course, showing off. Plus, the adapter gives the option of erasing the data off the SD card, making room for the 104 shots you’ll take of tomorrow’s Maui sunset. For use with the Video Ipod only, and available for $78 USD.

The Game|Life blog over at Wired News has some quick updates to what was seen at the news conference today. Speaking with Perrin Kaplan of Nintendo, at the very least, first party titles from Nintendo should not be region locked. She suggested that there may be an optional region lock available for publishers though. Also, when discussing the Virtual Console, it appears that downloads will be tied to an account, similarly to the way they are with Xbox Live. In the case where a Wii has been broken, gamers will be able to re-download their Virtual Console titles. Hopefully, Nintendo can get the DRM right for these cases. Kaplan also confirmed that the Wii will not support storage expansion via USB hard drives at launch, and will be initially restricted to SD media.